Anyone who has lived in- and some people who have visited- an apartment complex, will be familiar with the disposal procedure for waste. Carrying waste and recyclable materials to a central location on each floor is convenient and saves time. Imagine living on the 20th floor and having to carry your waste into the elevator (when wearing your freshly cleaned suit) and walking it to the basement!A waste chute allows for a more convenient and safer method of disposal. But it doesn’t stop there. Read on to discover how chutes and volume handling equipment could optimise your waste strategyand allow for efficient operations, potentially saving you time and money.

1. Waste chutes

There are many reasons to install a waste chute for a development, particularly multi-unit dwellings. Firstly, residents will not need to lug rubbish bags from each floor via the lift. Instead they deposit waste into the chute, which makes waste disposal easy and convenient. It can prevent illegal dumping and helps keep the amenities clean. Once waste is deposited into the chute, it is gravity led to the bottom (often located in the basement) where the waste is discharged into a bin.

2. Recycling chutes

Similar to a waste chute, recycling chutes allow for easy disposal of mixed recyclable materials. It is suitable for most recyclable items and is a convenient way of disposing recyclables. It can save operational costs of the development by collecting all recyclable materials in one location, rather than having to collect it from each floor of the development.

3. Linen Chutes

Linen chutes are a convenient way to manage linen, particularly in dependant aged care facilities. It can reduce the need for large linen trolleys and reduces the likelihood of cross-contamination of soiled and clean linen. This can also reduce manual handling labour and therefore risk of injury to staff when manoeuvringlinen trolleys and linen bags. Just like a waste chute, the linen is collected in linen trolleys for appropriate treatment.

4. Volume handling equipment

Volume handling equipment can be the difference between efficient and non-efficient operations. Such equipment includes waste compactors and track systems. Typically, waste compactors squash waste down on a 2:1 ratio, virtually halving the volume of waste. This means it takes longer to fill the allocated number of bins for a development, meaning less frequent collections and less cost.

Track systems can be critical in larger developments when working within council constraints for bin sizes and collection frequencies. They can be linear or circular and are set to automatically move bins underneath the waste/recycling chutes when the bins are full. This reduces the frequency a building manager/cleaner is required to attend the waste room to change over bins, thus saving time and money.

So, what are you waiting for? Contact our highly experienced team today and we can set up a meeting with you to discuss your waste management needs and how best you can be helped. We are eager to hear from you.